The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina has called for support from all stakeholders on the compilation of Nigeria's seventh and Eighth periodic country report on the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
She made the call at the national stakeholders consultative and pre-data collection testing workshop on the development of the two reports.
Nigeria as a member of the United Nations was among the first countries in Africa to sign and ratify the United Nations' Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1985 and 1986 respectively. The signing and ratification makes it obligatory for Nigeria to implement the provisions of the convention and report back to the CEDAW Committee of Experts every four years.
"Coincidently, Nigeria is currently a member of the CEDAW Committee of Experts and is being represented by Ms. Oby Nwankwo, and that places a great burden on us all to ensure our Report is comprehensive," she emphasised.
Maina said, Nigeria has submitted six reports to the Committee since it signed and ratified the convention, adding that, "The Committee in its concluding recommendations after the defence of the 6th report on 3rd July, 2008 requested Nigeria to submit its seventh and eighth periodic report in a combined form by July 2014."
The Minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Habiba Lawal said, the Nigerian Government through the Ministry is making efforts to submit the combined reports on or before July 2014 and solicits cooperation and support especially from Civil Society Organizations, States, and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) by making available to the team information that will assist in the report writing.
She said though it is regrettable that in spite of all efforts made by stakeholders, the CEDAW or Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill is yet to be domesticated in Nigeria, stressing that they will continue to advocate for their passage by the National Assembly hoping that sooner or later they will see sense in passing laws that will protect and empower women in the country.
She said the report will highlight and give an overview of progress made, constraints, challenges encountered in promoting the status of women including prospects in line with the provisions of the convention from July, 2006 to July, 2014.
Federal Republic Of Nigeria | nigeria.gov.ng